


Abidjan

by doggosbork



Category: Casablanca (1942)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Falling In Love, Flirting, Nazis, Romance, War, World War II
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2018-12-23 15:59:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11993094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doggosbork/pseuds/doggosbork
Summary: Rick Blaine and Louis Renault aren't in Brazzaville as they had hoped; they end up in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. They hadn’t planned on staying there, of course... but one thing leads to another, and the two friends become a part of a Nazi resistance agency. They meet a beautiful girl, Lena, who is dating a German military official in order to procure information. Rick and Louis have to help her make sure that he stays in Abidjan. As they get to know each other, unexpected feelings start to surface, and that's when things start to get complicated.





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea for what could have happened after the end of Casablanca, and I couldn't resist writing it out! The exposition is perhaps longer than I would have liked, but don't worry. The plot will definitely start to pick up... I hope you enjoy this, and any positive feedback or critiques are greatly appreciated!

They never made it to Brazzaville. After waiting for trains and sitting around for two weeks, Rick Blaine and Louis Renault ended up in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. They hadn’t planned on staying there, of course; they merely wanted to catch a boat to Pointe-Noire, which should have been their first glimpse of Free France. They already had all the resources for their trek through the Congo to Brazzaville. But they never got a ticket for a boat. Instead of spending another hellish three weeks on trains, Rick and Louis collectively decided to wait it out. Tickets were in high demand, but surely they wouldn’t have to wait too long…

After two months in Abidjan, both Rick and Louis were enjoying themselves. Rick bought out a small property downtown and opened yet another nightclub. He missed Sam and the others, of course, but finding new workers was easy enough. Rick offered Louis a job, but he was much more interested in gambling. Instead, Louis worked at a separate restaurant during the day so that he could spend his nights clubbing and seducing the women of Côte d’Ivoire.

At first, the idea of remaining in Vichy France was sickening for both Rick and Louis. However, during that second month of waiting, they found an underground Nazi-resistance movement called Agency Africa. While there was less of a German presence in Abidjan than in Casablanca, Nazis still walked about freely, and they had a degree of control over the small city government. Rick knew that being a part of the group would make him feel better about having to stay there. While Louis wasn’t quite as keen on the idea, it didn’t take much for Rick to convince him to follow in his footsteps.

Rick and Louis underwent several tests to ensure that they weren’t Nazi spies. The process was unpleasant, but the two understood why it had to be done, especially since Louis had worked for the Vichy government in Casablanca. After these screenings, they were invited to their first meeting. The entire agency never met up all at once, of course. Not only was it spread across the whole continent, but even regional factions of Agency Africa found it much safer to convene at separate times in many separate places.

Their first meeting was in a small restaurant on the north side of the city. When Rick and Louis arrived together, they looked for their regional leader. Serge Okonjo, an immensely tall African of about forty-five, was a quiet man of wits despite his hulking appearance. Unlike Victor Lazlo, he didn’t rile people up with moving speeches or patriotic gestures. Instead, he commanded respect for himself and his cause simply by being who he was. The man exuded both intelligence and amicability, and he was never seen smiling widely or frowning deeply. What made him so likeable was a mystery to all, yet all fell under his spell.

When the two men did find Serge, they were surprised to see that he was not dining alone. Seated next to him at the four-person table was a young woman they had never seen before. As Rick and Louis sat down, they were equally compelled to take a good look at her.

“My friends, welcome. Thank you for being on time,” Serge said with a slight smile. “I hope you do not mind that we have already eaten. We got here earlier than expected, and the food smelled so good that we could not resist.”

“Don’t worry about it, we already ate too,” Rick said. “We can just talk business.”

“Splendid. I suppose I should first introduce you to Lena,” Serge said, gesturing to the woman next to him. “Lena Dresdner.”

“It’s quite nice to meet you,” Louis said sweetly without missing a beat. He was surprised to meet a German woman working against the Nazis. Even though he did have a slight prejudice against Germans, he had seduced them without discrimination back in Casablanca. Louis saw no reason to discriminate now.

“Yes, same to you,” Lena said with a slight nod. Her German accent was barely perceivable, but it was still there.

“You three are going to work together for a little while,” Serge said. The restaurant was noisy, but he still kept his voice low. “Lena, can you explain your situation?”

“Yes, of course,” she began. “Some time after I joined the agency here in Abidjan, I met a man named Erich Scheinberg. He’s a major in the Nazi army, and he plays a large hand in what happens here in Africa’s Vichy governments… Somehow, he fell in love with me. It was lucky that he did, though. He is not overly cautious about sharing plans with me, and I can find out some things that most people couldn’t. So we’ve been ‘dating’ for awhile… but I’m afraid he may try to leave Africa soon. He has military plans for Africa that need to be finalized in Germany.”

“He may not be in a hurry,” Serge interjected politely, “but we can’t take any chances. If Scheinberg leaves Africa, we would lose a great source of information, not to mention that he would want to take Lena with him.”

“So what do you want us to do?” Rick asked.

“You own a small nightclub here in Abidjan, correct?” Serge asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good, he is going to be there tonight with Lena. She will make sure of that,” Serge said. “Luckily, he enjoys gambling. You have to make sure he doesn’t win anything.”

“You’ll have to make him lose,” Lena interrupted. “Erich is a compulsive gambler, and if he is unsatisfied with his winnings, he will be more likely to stay.”

“I can do that easily,” Rick said. He didn’t mind admitting to the others that his club wasn’t completely honest.

“Good. Louis, you’ll need to be there tonight as well,” Serge said. “He needs a friend who can keep him anchored here in Abidjan. Can you do that?”

“Yes, but… How do you know he’ll be willing to befriend a Frenchman?” Louis asked.

“Those tests you took were not just for our security, Renault,” Serge said with a slight smirk. “We’ve examined your personality, and we don’t think you’ll have any trouble befriending him… or anyone else you need to, for that matter.”

Louis wasn’t sure if that was a compliment. “Alright, I’ll do what I can.”

“Good. Once you two are close, hopefully you will also have some sort of influence on him if he tries to leave Abidjan,” Serge said. “Rick’s nightclub can serve as a general place for you to meet up… and any extra information about Nazi plans would be helpful too, of course. Are we clear?”

“Clear as crystal,” Louis said.

“Good. I’ll check in with you all in about a week. Let me know if anything major comes up… and be careful. Remember who you are dealing with,” Serge said sternly. “This is not a reasonable man. This is a Nazi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up. Finding time to write is a bit difficult with school, but I'm really enjoying this, so hopefully I'll have time to post more this week or next weekend. Thanks for reading!
> 
> EDIT: I updated this chapter to fix some of the characterization and such. Finding time to write is hard with school, but I'm doing what I can!


	2. Eyes

Waiting for Scheinberg was unbearable. Rick sat in his nightclub and drank with Louis to ease some of the anxiety, but neither of them could unglue their eyes from the door.

“You have any idea how you’re gonna get this guy to talk to you?” Rick asked Louis.

“Not in the slightest,” Louis said. However, there wasn’t a hint of uncertainty in his voice. “I suppose I’ll just gamble at the same table as him and see what happens. You told Mac to make sure he loses, yes?”

“Yeah, I told him.” Rick took another sip of his drink. “Shouldn’t they be walking in any second now?”

“What’s the hurry?” Louis asked. “Are you nervous?”

“No, not nervous,” Rick said, still sounding uncertain.

“Are you waiting for Scheinberg or for Lena?” Louis asked playfully. 

Rick didn’t respond at first. “I guess it doesn’t matter. I really don’t have to talk to either one of them.”

“Well, don’t get your hopes up about Lena,” Louis warned. “I’ll have you know, I plan to seduce her.”

“Of course you do…” Rick said with a sigh. “Don’t you ever get tired of that?”

“Tired of what?”

“Of just moving from one woman to the next,” Rick said, looking Louis straight in the eye. “Not that it’s my business, but haven’t you ever thought about being with one woman?”

“Of course I’ve thought of being with one woman,” Louis said. “In fact, I’ve thought about being with  _ many  _ women.”

“I meant  _ just _ one woman,” Rick said, barely suppressing an eye roll.

“Well…” Louis paused to think for a moment. “There was a time when I was with one woman. There was a girl when I was in France. She was quite wonderful, really… But then the war started, I went to Casablanca, and I was never monogamous again.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t see a reason to limit myself,” Louis said with a chuckle. “Romance is a fun game to play. Love is much more serious. You know I don’t like to take anything too seriously.”

“Right, I almost forgot,” Rick said. Just as he was about to say something else, the doors to the nightclub opened, and he suddenly remembered why they were waiting there in the first place. In walked a young man in a Nazi uniform with Lena following closely behind.

“Louis, they’re here. Don’t stare and make it obvious,” Rick said in a low voice. Of course, the first thing that Louis did was turn around completely and look directly at the couple as they walked in. Rick couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes this time. Luckily, Scheinberg didn’t see either of them.

“He’s a major in the Nazi military?” Louis asked. He was surprised to see how young he looked.

“I guess. He’s probably been in the company of Adolf himself,” Rick said with a hint of disgust. Just then, the two saw Scheinberg kiss Lena on the cheek and walk towards the back room for gambling. When he was out of sight, Lena saw them and walked over to their table.

“You’ll make sure he loses, yes?” Lena asked Rick earnestly.

“Yeah, but I have to go tell my dealer who he is,” Rick said. “I’ll be right back… then Louis can go in there.” He shot Louis a nasty look that said,  _ don’t you dare seduce Lena while I’m gone. _

As Rick left, Louis put on his most charming smile and struck up a conversation. He figured he should keep it practical… he didn’t want to scare her off. “Before I go out there, would you mind telling me what Scheinberg is like?” Louis asked pleasantly. “I should like to know what I’m up against.”

“He’s… a bit difficult to describe. Erich is kind to friends, so if you get on his good side, you may even start to like him. But he is also ruthless.”

“He doesn’t seem so scary. Not for a Nazi, anyhow.”

“You don’t know him yet.” There was a sudden fear in Lena’s eyes. It was as if she was remembering something horrible, something disgusting beyond words. However, the moment was gone almost as soon as it had happened. Louis would have missed it if he hadn’t already been staring into her wonderfully brown eyes.

“Is there something specific that I should know?” Louis asked with some concern.

“Just follow Serge’s advice and be careful,” Lena said. “He’s intimidating, and I would not consider him to be… right in the head.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” Louis said jokingly. This elicited a chuckle from Lena, but that was all. Even though Louis had just met her that day, he could tell that she was nervous for some reason. “Is something wrong?” Louis asked, his concern more genuine this time.

“It’s just that…” Lena paused, trying to think of the right words. “You and Rick seem like such good men, and this is an extremely dangerous business, especially for your first task with the agency. I can’t help but feel a little worried.”

At this, Louis couldn’t stifle a small laugh. “Is that all?” he asked, amused. “You know that Rick and I have dealt with Nazis before… Hell, Ricky shot a major back in Casablanca.”

“Yes, Louis, but what about you?” Lena asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. 

Louis furrowed his brow; he didn’t have an immediate answer. What about him? It was true that he didn’t have experience with the resistance. He has been pretty subservient to the Nazis in Casablanca. When he did break free, all he did was say, “Round up the usual suspects,” and then he left with Rick. Louis also remembered what it was like dealing with Major Strasser.

“I wasn’t intimidated by the Germans in Casablanca, so I don’t see how I could be here,” Louis said matter-of-factly. “Besides, he’s so young… how did a man like him get to be such a high-ranking official?”

“Like I said, he’s ruthless. And he has a strong military mind.”

“I may not understand much about him yet,” Louis said, leaning closer towards her, “but I can certainly understand how he fell in love with you.” With that, Louis gave her a sideways smile and reached into his pocket for a cigarette.

Lena looked taken back, but she was blushing ever so slightly. “Well, thank you,” she said softly, “although I often wonder to myself how we ended up like this… it all happened so fast.”

“Mademoiselle, you’ll have to tell me your story sometime,” Louis said. He could see Rick coming back into the room out of the corner of his eye, so he stood up. “Right now, however, I must go meet your partner. Adieu.” Louis reached for Lena’s hand and gave it a small kiss before he nodded and walked away. By the time Rick made it over to the table, Lena was sitting there with an astonished look on her face.

“What’d I miss?” Rick asked even though he already knew the answer.

“What do you mean?” Lena asked, quickly regaining her composure. “I was just giving Louis some advice.”

Rick raised an eyebrow. He noticed that Lena was drumming her fingers quickly on the table. “Can I get you something to drink? You could be stuck here awhile.”

“No, but thank you,” Lena said with a short nod. She wasn’t making eye contact with Rick.

“Are you sure?” Rick asked. He slowly sat down across from her. “You look like you could use something to take the edge off.”

“Really, it’s alright,” Lena said, finally looking up at him. She straightened her posture and held her head up to make herself appear more confident, but Rick couldn’t ignore his gut feeling that something was wrong.

“Did Louis say something to you?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “If he’s giving you a hard time…”

“No, not at all!” Lena blurted out a little too loudly. She paused for a second to regain her composure again. “I mean, no. He’s said nothing but kind words to me.”

“Then what’s the matter?” Rick asked. He was mostly curious because he never would have pegged her as a nervous person when they met earlier that day.

“I’m probably just worried about how this is all going to work out,” Lena said with a small smile. “You and Louis are pretty new to all this, and… there are a lot of things that could go wrong. For  _ both _ of you.”

Rick thought on this for a second. “You’d never met me or Louis before today, right?”

“Right.”

“Then why the hell should you care?” Rick asked. He hadn’t meant to sound aggressive, but when Lena broke eye contact, he knew he had come off the wrong way. “I mean… sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I was just trying to tell you there’s no reason to be worried.”

“It’s fine,” Lena said. This time, when she looked back at him, her smile was more warm and genuine. “You’re probably right, but I suppose I can’t help the way I feel. Besides, we are going to be working together for awhile… If everything goes right, anyway. My fate partially lies in your hands. If you two fail, I might have to leave Abidjan.”

“Yeah, but living here can’t be  _ that _ much better than living in Germany at this point,” Rick said mildly.

Lena’s disposition suddenly became much more serious. “Trust me, Herr Blaine,” she said softly. “It is.”

* * *

When Louis entered the gambling room, it didn’t take him very long to find the major. And, luckily enough, there was an empty seat right next to him. Since he could see that a new round was just starting, Louis hurriedly made his way over and sat down.

He tried to be as subtle as possible while observing Erich Scheinberg. The major had the typical sharp features of a German, but his youth was less apparent up close. He had bags under his eyes and small, barely perceivable stress lines across his cleanly-shaven face. Other than these small discrepancies, he appeared to be the embodiment of the Nazi party. Louis didn’t talk to him right away; he didn’t want to appear overly eager. More importantly, however, he couldn’t think of anything good to say. How does one start a conversation with a Nazi? It had been much easier when he had to work for them.

Even though he knew he was on a mission, Louis couldn’t help enjoying the fact that he was having an extremely “lucky” night. He knew that Rick didn’t let him win nearly as much as he use to in Casablanca, but it was possible that Rick had told his croupier, Mac, to give him a good time. Meanwhile, Scheinberg was having a terrible night, just as planned. Even though he definitely wasn’t a happy-looking guy at the beginning of the night, his countenance became darker as he continued to lose.

After Louis won a commendable sum of money three times in a row, he saw Erich gaze at him out of the corner of his eye. So, he took the opportunity and finally made eye contact for the first time… and he immediately wished he hadn’t. Erich’s eyes weren’t narrowed in anger as Louis expected them to be. Instead, they were just sharp and penetrating. Louis felt vulnerable, as if Erich could see into his thoughts with just one look. And, even though he didn’t seem angry on the surface, Louis could see the natural hatred that burned in every Nazi he had met. In Erich, he thought he could almost see a flame smoldering in front of his hazel irises. Even though Louis kept an appearance of confidence, he couldn’t stop the shudder that involuntarily ran down his spine.

“You seem to be having a lucky night,” Erich said. His accent was much thicker than Lena’s.

“Yes, so it seems,” Louis said casually.

“It would be smart to cash in now, with all those chips,” Erich said glancing down at the pile in front of Louis. He probably wasn’t happy about how many of the chips in that pile had originally been his.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Louis said. “I practically just arrived. Besides, if I left now, you wouldn’t get to win your money back from me.”

Erich tilted his head back slightly, but he didn’t say anything else. Instead, the two men placed their next bets. However, this round didn’t go nearly as well for Louis as the previous ones had; he ended up losing almost all his money. After that round, Louis could see Erich smirking a little bit.

“You should have taken my advice,” Erich said.

“Perhaps,” Louis said, “but aren’t we all taught when we are young not to take advice from strange men? I’ve never seen you here before.”

“I didn’t know about this place until earlier today,” Erich said. Of course, Louis already knew that. “You apparently come here often?”

“Yes, I’m friends with the owner,” Louis said. “Even so, it’s the best nightclub in Abidjan. In my experience, at least.”

“I would like to see from my own experience, so perhaps you will be seeing me here more often,” Erich said. “I am Major Scheinberg of the Third Reich.”

“Ah, I heard that you were in Abidjan,” Louis said, keeping the Nazi ego in mind. “Word travels fast around here. I am Louis Renault of… well, several places. More than I care to list.”

Louis couldn’t help noticing Erich’s face drop a little at the sound of his clearly French name. Since Louis didn’t have an accent, he had even considered giving Erich a more “agreeable” name… maybe something Italian. However, he hadn’t told Rick or Lena to go along with it, and the results of Erich finding out such a lie could be disastrous. All Louis could do was hope that Erich would be able to tolerate a French friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I finally got to finish the next chapter! Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have time to write again until Christmas break... but you can expect to find a new chapter or two then. I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it!


	3. A Lucky Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hover over italicized foreign language text for translations!

Two nights later, Louis decided to gamble while he waited for Erich to arrive at the nightclub with Lena. It was a good way to pass the time, but he mainly wanted to test whether or not he was having an impression on Erich. So, Louis left the seat next to him open with both confidence and hope that Scheinberg would sit with him. However, after gambling for what felt like an hour, he was slightly worried that someone else might get there first.

Louis almost didn’t notice when Erich slowly strutted into the room. When he finally did see the tall figure of the Nazi out of the corner of his eye, Louis barely stopped himself from turning and making eye contact; he wanted to see if Erich would interact with him on his own.

For a moment, Erich walked farther into the room and out of Louis’s view. Just as Louis was starting to think he had made a mistake with his little test, he was startled by a voice directly behind him.

“Herr Renault.” When Louis turned around, Erich was looking down on him with his head held high. Scheinberg didn’t seem to realize that he had startled the Frenchman. “I know you said you come here often, but this is the third night I’ve found you gambling. Isn’t that a bit unhealthy?” An odd smirk crept onto the German’s normally emotionless face. This only further perplexed Louis, but he still managed to cover up his uneasiness.

“You’re one to talk, monsieur. There’s only one way for you to have seen me here the last three nights.”

“Well… as your people  _ oftentimes  _ remark, touché,” Erich said as he sat down next Louis. Louis was about to be impressed with Erich’s use of a French word until he realized the hidden insult. “Are you having a lucky night?”

Just then, the roulette round ended, and Louis pushed most of his chips towards the dealer. “Not particularly,” he muttered, somewhat defeated. “Perhaps you’ll have a better night than me for once.”

Several more rounds of roulette went by, and Louis was surprised as both him and Scheinberg won considerable amounts of money. In fact, Erich was winning so much that Louis started to wonder if Rick had arranged for this to happen.

“And just when I was starting to think I would never win in this blasted place,” Erich said smugly at the end of another round. With his chips piled high in front of him, he turned slightly towards Louis with an expectant gaze. Louis, taking this as an invitation to feed the Nazi’s ego, barely gave Erich time to blink before he threw the bone.

“I’m going to have to have a word with the dealer… either you bribed him, or you’re actually that damn good,” Louis said. Just as he saw Erich begin to sneer, he added, “And I’m much more inclined to believe the former.”

“I didn’t bribe anyone,” Erich snarled defensively. However, as his smirk continued to show, Louis was relieved to see that Erich still couldn’t suppress his pride. “And, unlike you, I’m going to stop and collect my winnings while I still  _ have _ them.”

“Well, I suppose I could stop too… I finally have a little more than I came in with,” Louis said indifferently. However, he had a bad taste in his mouth from Erich’s small barrage of insults. Was this what being friends with a Nazi was normally like? Perhaps for a Frenchman.

The two men stood up together to go cash in their chips. As Erich pocketed his large amount of money, Louis had an idea. “Let me buy you a drink to celebrate,” he said. “After all, I don’t believe you’ve met Rick yet. I’d like to introduce you.”

“Very well, I could use a drink,” Erich said. Louis led the way out of the back room and into the main bar. As he walked in, he saw Lena sitting at a table with a man he didn’t recognize. There was no sign of Rick.

“I don’t see him, but I’m sure Rick will be back in a moment,” Louis told Erich as they walked up to the bar. The bartender had his back to the two men. “Hervé!” Louis cheerfully called him over.

The man turned around and smiled when he saw Louis. “Bonjour, monsieur!  _Comment allez-vous? _ ”

“ _Pas génial… mais je serai mieux quand je reçois ma boisson! _ ” Before Louis was finished speaking, he saw a somewhat subtle look of disgust appear on Hervés face. It didn’t take Louis long to realize he was looking at Erich, who looked even more obviously disgusted by his use of French. “I’m sorry, how rude of me,” Louis said to Erich. He had to make an effort not to sound like he was pandering. “We were just greeting each other.”

“The usual, Louis?” Hervé asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Louis could tell that his friend was disappointed in him, but he would have to address that later.

“And you, monsieur?” Hervé asked Erich.

“Hmm, surprise me,” Erich said. Hervé nodded with a faint smile and left to make the drinks. Just as he left, Louis saw Rick starting to walk towards the bar, so he beckoned him over.

“Ah, there he is, just as I said,” Louis remarked to Erich as Rick came up to them. “Monsieur Rick! I have a friend I want you to meet. This is Major Erich Scheinberg.”

“How do ya do?” Rick asked casually.

“Just fine. Herr Renault has told me a lot about you,” Erich said.

“All good things, I hope.”

“Yes, of course. Although he has probably left me with more questions than answers. You seem to be a bit of an… interesting person.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that,” Rick said cooly. However, he shot Louis a quick, unhappy glance.

“You’ve been around, that’s all,” the major said. Hervé suddenly returned with the drinks they had ordered and set them on the counter without a word.

“You could say that,” Rick said. He wasn’t as chatty as Louis had hoped.

“He says you are from America. I’ve always wanted to go there myself,” Heinrich said. Rick wasn’t even looking at him; he was focusing on a point behind the bar instead. Heinrich didn’t seem to notice at all. “Which part were you from?”  
“I’ll have to tell you some other time,” Rick said roughly. Louis finally turned around to see what Rick was looking at, but there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. “If you’ll please excuse me.” Then, Rick briskly walked towards the gambling room.

“There… must be something going on over there,” Louis said, confused.

Erich shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his drink. “I understand he has a nightclub to run,” he said indifferently. Then, he looked up at Louis as if he remembered something. “While we’re doing introductions, there is someone you should meet as well.”

Erich began to lead Louis over to the table where Lena and the unknown man were sitting. Louis started to plan out how to act around Lena; he would have to pretend like he had never met her, of course. He would also have to feign disinterest, which would prove to be slightly more difficult.

When Erich got to the table, the other man immediately stood up to shake his hand. “Herr Mueller, this is Louis Renault.”

Mueller, instead of reaching out for a hand shake, nodded his head to acknowledge Louis. There was something unsettling about the man’s wide, pointed smile. His small glasses covered the bottom half of his eyes, and his thin hair was neatly combed to the side.

“Mr. Mueller is a part of our Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda… and he is one of the Reich’s most avid supporters,” Erich said.

“Come now, I am hardly worthy of such praise,” Mueller said in his high-pitched voice. “Save your kind words for your lovely Lena. She has been a pleasure to talk to tonight.”

Lena, who had been completely ignored thus far, was finally brought to the attention of the men. She timidly smiled at the group and blushed at the compliment.

Before anyone could respond, Mueller continued, “I’m sorry to excuse myself now, but it is quite late,” Mueller said, mostly to Erich. “It was a pleasure to meet you.” He turned and briefly glanced at Louis and Lena before shaking hands with Erich again and leaving.

Erich cleared his throat before turning back to Louis. “As Herr Mueller said, this is Lena. We met here in Abidjan.” Erich had a look of pride on his face as he introduced her, but there was no warmth in his smile, even when he turned to look at her.

“I’m sorry, I did not catch your name,” Lena said to Louis.

“Louis Renault, of France,” Erich said, not giving Louis time to answer. Louis simply nodded politely to Lena. “You should sit with us before we go,” Erich said to him. “It  _ is _ late, but I haven’t finished my drink.”

“Of course, I’m in no hurry,” Louis lied. He was more uncomfortable than he was use to being in social situations; he hadn’t been relaxed since Rick left, and the complete lack of cordiality from Mueller was even more off-putting.

“Lena is from Dresden, but she came to visit Abidjan with her brother who had business here,” Erich explained. “When her brother went back to Germany, he begged her to come back with him, but she insisted that she wanted to stay here with me.” Once again, Erich smirked in a manner that was becoming more and more familiar to Louis.

Lena blushed again and looked down at her hands folded in her lap. “What else could I have done?” After she said this, Erich beamed again and put his arm around her. Louis couldn’t help noticing how she flinched slightly at his touch.

“Well, I’m very happy for both of you,” Louis said as enthusiastically as he could muster.

“What about you, Louis? Do you have a girl here in Abidjan?” Erich asked. Lena suddenly looked up at Louis, interested to hear his response. At first, he could only laugh. This was one thing he was going to have to be honest about.

“I have a few,” Louis understated with a chuckle. “I like to keep my prospects open in the field of women.”

“Hmm, a man of many tastes!” Erich said with a laugh. “I can appreciate that.”

Suddenly, Erich turned and said something to Lena in German. As the two conversed for a moment, Louis noticed again that Lena was stiff, and her hands seemed to be fidgeting with her skirt or the tablecloth. Even though he was suppose to be focused on Erich, Louis couldn’t help also thinking about how soft her hair looked pulled back behind her head, or how her genuine smile was warmer than any of those he had seen before.

Wait… what? Before Louis could consider the ludicracy of his thoughts, he realized that Erich had said something to him… and he had also been staring at Lena. Louis cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I was lost in thought.”

“I asked you if you’ve ever been to Germany before,” Erich said somewhat gruffly. Louis just hoped he hadn’t noticed his stares.

“Oh, no, I haven’t,” Louis said.

“Perhaps you can travel there some day soon,” Erich said. “It’s especially pleasant in the summer when the Reich holds its military parades.”

“Yes, hopefully,” Louis said somewhat absentmindedly. He couldn’t stop himself from glancing at Lena for a moment. She was looking at him with slight concern.

“Are you alright, Herr Renault?” Lena asked.

Louis blinked a few times. He really was feeling dazed. “Yes, just tired. It’s been a long day.” Louis checked his watch; it was nearly one in the morning.

“We won’t keep you any longer, then.” Erich said, standing up. “Besides, I’ve finished my drink.”

“Splendid,” Louis said, standing up to go. “Will I see you here later this week?”

“Of course. After tonight, I’m thinking I should try my luck more often,” Erich said with a chuckle.

Louis finally realized why Rick had let him win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! I've had an itch to write lately, so hopefully I'll put out more chapters soon. Thank you so much to those of you who left kudos on this work! It really does help motivate me <3
> 
> If you're interested in other old movie stuff (especially with Claude Rains), I wrote a short little thing on Mr. Skeffington, too. Feel free to check it out on my page.


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